The relationship of risk factors in construction projects with the project process and project goal

Construction projects have a dynamic and complex structure that is distinctive to themselves. Every construction project is nunrecuring and holds too many different kinds of stages. Due to this fact these projects contain various and a lot of risks encountered during the process, from the beginning to end. These risks put hindrances on the way of a succesful project. For a project to be successful everything should be completed according to the cost, duration, quality and job-environment safety which are supposed to be assigned in the beginning of the project. However risks create adverse effects hindering reaching success. Every construction project includes certain risks regardless of its size. To lessen the unwanted effects of risk factors and determine a control strategy, an efficient risk management is required. As a brief explaniation, risk management means naming, classifying, analysing, evaluating the risks and developing precautions for them. Defining the risks and classfying them to their actual resources are curicial to advance a helpful risk management. Classfying risks helps easing the analysing the process as well as understanding the negative effects of it on the project goals. In this content, primarily the risks which can be seen probable in construction sector of Turkey are determined and shown in charts according to their risks resources are manifested, then negative effects on cost, time, quality, and occupational- environmental safety and their relation with project process are researched. The first part of thesis is the intruduction part explaining the aim of the study, content and borders, method and the steps used during the completion process of the thesis. In the second part, literature related with risk, risk management, and categorizing risks are searched. It contains definitions of risk and risk management from different researchers, observation about steps of risk management and classfying of risks made in Turkey and abroad. The researchs enable us to have a large knowledge. In the third part ,the probable risks in construction field in Turkey is observed and categorized according to their resources. The literature examination in the second part is a referance for this categorizing. The risks defined specially for our country's construction sector classified to their resources are shown below. Endogeneous Risks • Owner-based risks • Designer-based risks • Contractor-based risks • Subcontractor-based risks Exogenous risks • Economical risks • Political risks • Risks based on legal restrictions • Environmental risks Its plasuible to say that the effects of risk factors may be variant according to the time they occur. Altough It may be very simple to control a risk factor when it is realized during the designing stage, It is be more dangerous when they occur in the project stage. For this reason, while studying on the adverse effects of risk factors we should be aware of the fact that there is an inevitable neccesity of associating the risks with the project process. In the third part, the risks classified according to their sources, also are associated with the project process . The fourth part is the most important section and includes field study. The accuracy and reliability of classification of risks are explored and the risk factors of negative effects' which are shown in the chart to the project's goals; such as cost, time, quality and occupational and environmental safety are also observed via of surveys. To reach impartial views, surveys are executed among owners, designers, contractors and subcontractors who have at least ten-year experience in their field. In total, from 35 company delegates, answers qualified enough to use in evaluation of thesis are provided. Ten of these companies are owners, eight of them are designers and ten of them are contractors and eight of them are subcontractors. Datas obtained in the survey firstly evaluated seperately for the endogenous and exogenous risks. In endogenous factors, Risk factor affecting the cost most: designer based-''designs neccesitate superior technology'' with 4.74 strength Risk factor affecting the time most: owner based-'stopping the whole project or certain parts of it'' with 4.81 strength Risk factor affecting the quality most: contractor based–"using the inappropriate construction methods'' with 4.53 strength Risk factor affecting the occupational-environmental safety most: subcontractor based- "not providing the necessary and enough occupational health and safety precaution'' with 4.94 strength Risk factor affecting all the project goals: contractor based–"having an unsatisfactory and inexperienced team of workmen'' with the %84 strength In exgenous factors, Risk factor affecting the cost most : political risks – "War" 4.86 strength Risk factor affecting the time most: Political Risks – "War" with 4.83 strength Risk factor affecting the quality most: Political Risks –"War" with 3.52 strength Risk factor affecting the occupational-environmental safety most: environmental risks–"Occupational accidents" with 4.84 strength Risk factor affecting all the project goals:political risks – "War" with %84 strength After that the external and internal factors are examined together. Besides this, the risk factors impacting project goals are defined and their relation with goals are analysed. The effects of risk factors to all project goals are calculated and their weight percentages are found. The risks which have more than 70 percent of weight percentage are considered as high level risks. So the 25 risk factors affecting the goals with their high-level affecting ability are exposed and also related with process of construction project. Moreover, during which stage these risk factors show their most adverse sides for the goals and what precautions can be taken about these are also analysed. In fourth part on the whole, the relation between project goals, project process and sources of risks studied with different charts and the examples and comments made by people who answered the survey questions take place. In the fifth part, the results containing categorization of might-be risks for construction sector of Turkey, results and assesments gained from this survey which investigates relation of risks with project process and goals are shown.